concerns, miscommunications, and gaps
in understanding outlined above make
it supremely difficult to embed and
sustain reforms. Unless teachers, parents,
students, and community members
become allies and partners in the mission
of improving schools, the United States
will likely stumble in its efforts to build a
world-class education system. Trying to
make people do things differently rarely
succeeds. Progress comes when people
recognize the need for change and believe
that they themselves can play an essential
part.
What can school leaders do to build
broader support for the changes we
must make to improve our schools?
Here are four ideas to start with.
FIGURE 1. Differences Between Debate and Dialogue
Characteristics of Debate
Assuming there is one right answer
(and you have it)
Combative: attempting to prove the
other side wrong
Trying to win
Listening to find flaws and make
counterarguments
Defending your assumptions
Characteristics of Dialogue
Assuming that others have pieces of
the answer
Collaborative: attempting to find
common understanding
Trying to find common ground
Listening to understand
Bringing up your assumptions for
inspection and discussion
Recognize Communication
Gaps and Reach Out
All school leaders should make sure
they have an accurate picture of the
attitudes and concerns that parents,
teachers, and members of other
important groups bring to key issues in
school reform. Good opinion research
is available from Public Agenda, Education Sector, the Kettering Foundation,
and other groups. Some states and
districts also conduct surveys on school
issues, and these can be helpful as well.
Take advantage of everything that’s out
there.
But it’s important to remember that
what you glean from surveys and focus
groups is only a starting point, and
conducting research locally is often
far too costly for schools and districts.
The far more crucial step is to open up
new conversations and begin exploring
in less formal ways what people think
about what’s happening in schools. Talk
to people in the neighborhood or at
the supermarket. See what Aunt Sally
and your teenage nephew think about
the remarkable changes afoot in education today. These can be eye-opening
conversations.
Searching for weaknesses and flaws
in the other position
Searching for strength and values in the
other position
Seeking an outcome that agrees
with your position
Discovering new possibilities and
opportunities
Source: From “Moving Beyond Polls and Focus Groups” (p. 113), by S. A. Rosell and H. Gantwerk,
2010. In Toward Wiser Public Judgment, D. Yankelovich and W. Friedman (Eds.). Nashville, TN:
Vanderbilt University Press. Copyright © 2010 by Public Agenda. Reprinted with permission.
Create Dialogue
Giving people clear, accurate information is essential. But few people
change their expectations or behavior
on the basis of information alone—
especially not in a society where we’re
continually inundated with facts,
statistics, news, and opinion, not to
mention tweets, blogs, and Facebook
posts. When it comes to introducing
new ideas and beginning the process of
change, a more effective strategy may be
dialogue (Yankelovich, 2001).
Steve Rosell and Heidi Gantwerk
(2011) describe dialogue as “the step
we can take, before decisions are made,
to uncover assumptions, broaden per-
spectives, build trust, and find common
ground” (p. 112). They contrast debate,
a type of discussion most of us know
well, with dialogue, a distinctive kind
of conversation that informs in a very
different way (see fig. 1). In debate, it’s
assumed that there is a right answer
and that your role is to argue for it. In
dialogue, the assumption is that other
people also have a piece of the answer
and that their views and suggestions
will improve the ultimate solution. In
debate, the idea is to win the argument;
in dialogue, the idea is to look for
common ground.
